So, this has been a pretty big story in the underground metal scene for a while now. Let's talk about it.
Batushka is a solid Polish black metal band. Their debut album, Litourgiya, came out a few years ago and was very good. It had a mixture of frenetic, fast-paced black metal with clearly audible bass (which is a rarity in black metal) and slower, atmospheric portions that had Eastern Orthodox chanting, which made it pretty unique.
After that album was released and generated a lot of buzz, the band was getting pressured to tour and to release a second album. Krzysztof Drabikowski, who, per his account, is essentially the original mastermind behind the band (he's the original guitarist and composer), and Bartłomiej Krysiuk, who Krzysztof originally recruited to do vocals, had some sort of a falling out. They're currently embroiled in a legal fight for the right to use the Batushka name and are continuing to make music, separately, under that moniker. Krzysztof is saying that Bart is stealing the Batushka name and idea/concept from him.
Metal Blade Records signed Bart's band, and both he and Krzysztof have released new albums this year. Krzysztof's album, Panichida, came out in May, and Bart's album, Hospodi, dropped yesterday. As of right now, comments are disabled on the videos of Hospodi singles. I noticed that they had way more downlikes than uplikes, and I saw most people in the comments on the Hospodi full album stream video trashing it, saying Krzysztof's Batushka is the real one, that Bart is a thief, etc. I immediately thought of the Leaves' Eyes situation and said "here we go again."
Then I watched a video that Anthony Fantano, a well known music reviewer on YouTube, made on the subject. He pointed out a video that Krzysztof posted last December, which I didn't know existed.
After watching that, I then proceeded to listen to both Krzysztof's and Bart's albums. At the end of the day, the music doesn't lie, and it quickly became clear to me that Krzysztof was telling the truth about being the mastermind behind the band, as Fantano said in his video and as others have said in comments on the other videos. His album sounds almost exactly like Litourgiya. Bart's isn't terrible, but it clearly sounds like an entirely different band.
I don't normally take sides in music conflicts, because I'm really just here for the music, but I just couldn't stay neutral here. Bart shouldn't be able to just cash in using Krzysztof's idea, and that's essentially what I think he's trying to do. I think he just got impatient waiting for Krzysztof to finish up his work, and he was just like "screw it, I want this money now." Sadly, I think Metal Blade Records, a label I really like, probably went into it with the same mentality.
What do you guys think? All three albums are posted below. If you don't care to listen to the whole thing, it shouldn't take you more than five or ten minutes from each album to draw a conclusion.
Litourgiya (Batushka's debut album)
Panichida (Krzysztof's album)
Hospodi (Bart's album)
Batushka is a solid Polish black metal band. Their debut album, Litourgiya, came out a few years ago and was very good. It had a mixture of frenetic, fast-paced black metal with clearly audible bass (which is a rarity in black metal) and slower, atmospheric portions that had Eastern Orthodox chanting, which made it pretty unique.
After that album was released and generated a lot of buzz, the band was getting pressured to tour and to release a second album. Krzysztof Drabikowski, who, per his account, is essentially the original mastermind behind the band (he's the original guitarist and composer), and Bartłomiej Krysiuk, who Krzysztof originally recruited to do vocals, had some sort of a falling out. They're currently embroiled in a legal fight for the right to use the Batushka name and are continuing to make music, separately, under that moniker. Krzysztof is saying that Bart is stealing the Batushka name and idea/concept from him.
Metal Blade Records signed Bart's band, and both he and Krzysztof have released new albums this year. Krzysztof's album, Panichida, came out in May, and Bart's album, Hospodi, dropped yesterday. As of right now, comments are disabled on the videos of Hospodi singles. I noticed that they had way more downlikes than uplikes, and I saw most people in the comments on the Hospodi full album stream video trashing it, saying Krzysztof's Batushka is the real one, that Bart is a thief, etc. I immediately thought of the Leaves' Eyes situation and said "here we go again."
Then I watched a video that Anthony Fantano, a well known music reviewer on YouTube, made on the subject. He pointed out a video that Krzysztof posted last December, which I didn't know existed.
After watching that, I then proceeded to listen to both Krzysztof's and Bart's albums. At the end of the day, the music doesn't lie, and it quickly became clear to me that Krzysztof was telling the truth about being the mastermind behind the band, as Fantano said in his video and as others have said in comments on the other videos. His album sounds almost exactly like Litourgiya. Bart's isn't terrible, but it clearly sounds like an entirely different band.
I don't normally take sides in music conflicts, because I'm really just here for the music, but I just couldn't stay neutral here. Bart shouldn't be able to just cash in using Krzysztof's idea, and that's essentially what I think he's trying to do. I think he just got impatient waiting for Krzysztof to finish up his work, and he was just like "screw it, I want this money now." Sadly, I think Metal Blade Records, a label I really like, probably went into it with the same mentality.
What do you guys think? All three albums are posted below. If you don't care to listen to the whole thing, it shouldn't take you more than five or ten minutes from each album to draw a conclusion.
Litourgiya (Batushka's debut album)
Panichida (Krzysztof's album)
Hospodi (Bart's album)
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